Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.Clapperton, Hugh
History
Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.
Clapperton, Hugh
Sudan (Region) -- Description and travel
Koolfu, or, as it is called by many, Koolfie, is the principal town
for trade in Nyffé at present; and at all times a central point
for trade in this part of the interior. It is situated on the north
bank of the river May-yarrow; and it is surrounded by a clay wall
about twenty feet high, and has four gates. It is built in the form
of an oblong square, having its longest diameter from east to west;
there is a long irregular street runs through it, from which lead
a number of smaller streets. There are two large open spaces near
the east and west ends of the town, in which are booths, and large
shady trees, to protect the people from the heat of the sun, when
attending the markets, which are daily held in those places: there
are, besides the daily markets, two weekly markets on Mondays and
Saturdays, which are resorted to by traders and people inhabiting
the sea coast. Ajoolly and the other towns in Yourriba, Cubbi,
Youri, Borgoo, Sockatoo, and Zamfra on the north, Bornou and Houssa
on the east, and, before the civil war, people from Benin, Jabbo,
and the southern parts of Nyffé, used to resort to this town as a
central point of trade, where the natives of the different countries
were sure to get a ready sale for their goods; either selling them
for cowries, or exchanging them for others by way of barter. Those
who sold their goods for cowries attend the market daily, and when
they have completed their sale, buy at once the goods or wares they
want, and return home. Such is the way of the small traders, who
are nine out of ten women, and are principally from the west part
of the Quorra, even as far off as Niki: they carry their goods on
their heads in packages, from sixty to eighty and a hundred pounds
weight. The goods these people bring from the west are principally
salt, and cloths worn by the women round their loins, of about six
yards in length and two in breadth, made of the narrow striped cloth,
in which red silk is generally woven, and a great deal of blue cotton;
this is called Azane, and the best are worth about three thousand
to five thousand cowries, or two dollars:—Jabbo cloths, which are
about the same length as the others, and about the breadth of our
sail-cloth, are worn by slaves, and have a stripe or two of blue
in them; the poor classes also wear them, men and women:—Peppers,
called monsoura, shitta, and kimba; monsoura is like our East India
pepper; shitta is the malagetta pepper of the coast; kimba is a small
thin pepper, growing on a bush, near the sea coast, in Yourriba,
of a red colour, like Chili pepper:—Red wood from Benin, which
is pounded to a powder and made into a paste; women and children
are rubbed with this, mixed with a little grease, every morning;
and very frequently a woman is to be seen with a large score of
it on her face, arms, or some part of her body, as a cure for some
imaginary pain or other:—A small quantity of calico or red cloth is
sometimes brought, which is of European manufacture. They take back
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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